Thinking of adding a loach to my tank. In researching, I read that they are shy, burrow,and are nocturnal, and need hideouts in driiftwood, etc. Having read all this, I asked the guy at my local fish store whether I would ever see them afterI put them in the tank and he said 'probably not". Folks on the forum seem to be happy with theirs, even without having several of them instead of one. I'm interested in what forum folkhave experienced with their loaches, good or bad. I'm also wondering whether the blue night-time modeon my new LED tank would allow me to see them on at night. Thanks!

My experience is only with Kuhli Loaches, and I love them. True, they do hide a lot, but the more hiding places you provide for them, and the more of them you keep in your tank, the more confident they are and you will see them more often. They come out at feeding time mostly, but they do come out to play as well. They will swim along the length of your aquarium, and up the edges...fast, in snake-like motion. They will come to sudden stop and rest on your plants, they will just sit there, somtimes completely contorted, hanging out for a moment or two and start their swimming antics all over again. At feeding time you will see them rummaging along the substrate in search for a morsel. Because they have barbels you should aim for a substrate like sand, or small polished gravel. They don't like bright lights, I'm not sure if they are truly nocturnal or if they just avoid coming out for most people when the tank lights are on? My Kuhli Loaches come out at feeding time, even if the lights are on!

MCchambers got it right. There are many species. Here is an excellent resource you can use to get information http://www.loaches.com/

I have only kept 3 species Clown Loach (Chromobotia macracanthus), Yoyo loach (Botia almorhae) and Dwarf Loach (Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki). These are all very long loved fish. I have two of my clowwns at 10-12 incjed and getting close to 20 years old. I have had my spme of sids for approaching 15 years. Unfortunately, I had to give away my yoyos because they had a bad habit of harassing my angels. At that time I had no wat to separate them. I was fairly new in the hobby then and had not yet learned about compatibility issues when stocking a community tank.

I am thinking of getting some Chinese Hillstream loaches to go with a school of White Cloud Mountain Minnnows.I like doing biotope setups. I think I will get them based on response to my question. Thanks guys!